Clouds don't dampen lunar eclipse

Clouds didn't dampen the spirits of Sydneysiders searching the skies for the lunar eclipse, thanks to the internet and a live feed from Queensland.

The moon reveals itself through rain clouds of a total lunar eclipse

Clouds didn't dampen the spirits of Sydneysiders searching the skies for the lunar eclipse. (AAP)

Cloud and rain ruined the view of many Australians who looked to the skies, hoping to see a rare lunar eclipse on Saturday night.

But thanks to the internet, astronomers like Brenan Dew from the Sydney Observatory didn't miss out altogether.

"We were not able to see it live but we did have a couple of rooms set up with a live stream happening - there was one coming from Queensland, which had a bit better weather than us, and another one from Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles," he told AAP.

Despite Sydney's dismal weather, more than 100 people turned up at the Observatory hoping to witness what turned out to be the shortest lunar eclipse this century.

It began at 10.58pm (AEDT) and was over at 11.03pm.

Mr Dew said the entire eclipse actually took three and a half hours, with the moon gradually passing through the shadow of the earth.

"But the part with the blood red colour, as they call it, only happened for about five minutes," he said, adding that other "blood moons" can occur for as long as 90 minutes.

Mr Dew said it was sad the weather didn't let up in Sydney until early Sunday morning.

"It was probably the highlight of the year in terms of astronomical events that are easy to see (in Australia)," he said.

The next lunar eclipse visible in Australia will be on January 31, 2018.


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Source: AAP


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